This 360 degree panorama was shot atop the mainline Mississippi River Levee, just north of the Old River Control Structure, in northern Louisiana. When this GigaPan was shot on the afternoon of May 23, 2011, the river was at maximum flood stage (or within about a day of cresting) just upstream of the first diversionary pathway that distributes some of its discharge down the Atchafalaya basin. It's hard to get a quantifiable sense of scale here, but the river is within about four or five feet of the crest of the levee and the fields on the other side of the levee are something like 20-30 feet lower. If the mainline levee ever failed during a flood stage like this all the kings horses and all the kings men wouldn't be able to put it back together again. Fortunately, it looks like the levees are in good shape this year, and though the flood is near record levels, the diversionary measures downstream appear to be effective in reducing stress on the levees this time. Let's hope we're always as lucky.